868 PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 



tition that would be both tiresome and unnecessary. They present no 

 peculiarities of structure or shape, and much labor expended in explor- 

 ing them brought no new facts to light. The earth mounds were all 

 probably domiciliary, and the shell heaps are the usual debris of feasts. 



Nearly all the shell heaps are composed of oyster shells, which are 

 very large, aud it is a fact worthy of note that the oyster is at present 

 extinct in Choctawhatchee Bay. Most of the heaps, are covered with 

 soil from 1 to 2 feet in thickness. From data obtained from the shell 

 heaps of South Florida I have calculated that it requires at least fifty 

 years to produce a stratum of soil 6 inches in thickness. From this it 

 will appear that some of these heaps were completed from 100 to 200 

 years ago. 



From this series of explorations the following facts seem to be pretty 

 well established : 



1. That promiscuous mound burial was practiced only to a limited 

 extent in this locality. 



2. That the races formerly inhabiting this district were further ad- 

 vanced in civilization than those of South Florida. 



3. That it is probable all the large domiciliary mounds were built by 

 small additions through many successive generations, and hence may 

 have been partly the work of the modern Indians. 



STONE MOUNDS OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, W. VA. 



By L. A. Kengla, of Washington, D. C. 



The mounds or graves described in this paper are situated on the east- 

 ern side of the South Branch Mountain, Hampshire County, West Vir- 

 ginia, about li miles from the mouth of the South BraDch River, on the 

 property of Mr. Charles French. According to early accounts, the en- 

 tire region between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Ohio Biver was 

 held by the Massawomee Indians.* The immediate locality (Fairfax 

 Grant) was, however, the hunting ground of the Tauxenents, a band, 

 perhaps, of the above-mentioned powerful tribe.t 



The settlement of this district by the whites drove this tribe across 

 the Alleghanies; and, after their departure, the country seems to have 

 been a border liue of warfare between the Delawares of Pennsylvania 

 and the Catawbas of Virginia. This narrow and rough valley, from the 

 mouth of the river to Moorefield, Hardy County, West Virginia, and 

 probably far beyond, is replete with traditions and evidences of many 

 a stubborn struggle — not only between contending tribes, but also be- 

 tween the Indians and the intrepid pioneers of West Virginia. 



The locality of these mounds, known as '"Shin Bottom," was also the 



* History of West Virginia, page 34. De Hass. 

 t "Jefferson's Notes" on Virginia, page 152. 



